Intimacy Counselling (Psychosexual Therapy)
For most people, intimacy and sex are an important part of a couple’s relationship. Yet surprisingly, many couples struggle with sexual relationships. Sometimes, these sexual difficulties have to do with lack of experience or different ‘tastes’ and sometimes they have a psychological or medical cause. If you are having difficulties in your sexual relationship but feel embarrassed, don’t be. It happens far more often than you probably imagine.
Some sexual dysfunctions have a physiological cause. If you are experiencing some form of sexual difficulty, you should have this checked out first by a doctor. Some medications will also cause lack of desire as a side effect. Once again, ask your doctor first. You don’t want to waste your time and money coming to therapy when the problem may be physical!
It could be that your doctor considers that your sexual dysfunction is a combination of both physical and psychological difficulties and may suggest sex therapy to support any medical treatment he or she provides for you. This also happens frequently. If that’s the case, I would be happy to work in conjunction with the medical treatment you’re receiving.
However, many sexual difficulties have a major psychological component to them, or maybe they have to do with past experience or misconceptions. This is the area in which psychosexual therapy is the treatment of choice.
What to expect? To get a better understanding of the situation and your needs, I carry out a comprehensive assessment which includes questions about you and your partner’s medical history, past relationships, family life, beliefs and values, and thoughts on intimacy, as well as what is actually happening for you. Once the assessment is completed, an appropriate treatment plan is devised specifically for the type of problem presented, taking into consideration your own personal needs and circumstances.1
“To get a better understanding of your needs, I carry out a comprehensive assessment.”
Here are some frequently asked questions about psychosexual therapy:
How frequent are the sessions?
Generally, psychosexual therapy works best if you attend on a weekly basis.
However, given the “homework” tasks and people’s busy schedules and family
obligations, this is not always possible, in which case, we can work on a
fortnightly basis.
Who should attend?
I work with couples and single women only. Due to the sensitivity of the type
of therapy, I currently do not offer this therapy to single men.
How long does it take?
It’s never possible to say how long psychosexual therapy takes to work, because
it depends on the difficulty presented, how entrenched the underlying factors are,
your level of motivation, the amount of time you are able to dedicate to the tasks,
other relationship factors that may be present, and so forth. However, generally,
treatment takes between 12 and 16 sessions after the assessment.2
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
1: Please note, sessions with me consist of talking therapy only. You will be given tasks to complete on your own or with your partner outside of the sessions, but these tasks are to support the talking therapy we carry out together.
2: Please note – this is only a guideline, not a guarantee! As in all psychotherapies, reaching a solution depends on a multitude of factors, such as the ones already mentioned, and the level of complexity. Therefore, treatment could be longer.